Our History
The UFT school nurses chapter has come a long way since its founding in 1980. We started with only 25 nurses and now have almost 600 UFT school nurses. In every contract, we moved one step closer to gaining a 10-month work year which was finally achieved in 2005.
Over the years our chapter had to fight for Christmas and Easter vacations, increases in experience differentials, additional longevity steps and tuition reimbursement. We went through a fact-finding process in which we won the same work day as teachers and we won a two-year-long arbitration that provided us with overtime pay for early and late busing. All of these gains have been achieved because the UFT school nurses are a strong voice within our union. We have also established an educational program with Empire State College that provides a baccalaureate degree in community health for our Nurses.
For more details about the gains we've made, take a look at our contract history timeline.